


Inferno

by idrilhadhafang



Series: The Inferno-verse [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: A Celebration For A Milestone In The Darkpilot Tag, Alternate Universe - Ben Solo Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Based On A Fic I Never Finished Or Published, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Buried Alive Mention in Chapter 2, Dark Luke, Implied/Referenced Character Death, In a way, M/M, Slow Burn Darkpilot, of sorts, throwback thursday
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:01:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24431770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: In a parallel galaxy, what if Luke was the one Snoke chose and not Ben? As Luke takes up the mantle of Master of the Knights of Ren, Ben, Poe and their friends have to fight him — whatever it takes.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: The Inferno-verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764424
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	1. Prologue: Undone In Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Happy 2000 fics in the Darkpilot tag, everyone! This is actually a reworking of an unpublished fic I wrote in 2016, back when TFA mania was pretty high. (God, remember those days?) It was basically the Sequel Trilogy (well, TFA and my imaginings for the rest) with Luke taking up the mantle of Kylo Ren instead of Ben, based on a rumor that had gone around pre-TFA’s release that got gears turning.
> 
> So I wrote bits and pieces of that fic. (I was a very non-linear writer back then) Now I’m here to present to you this, with Darkpilot and other tropes, as a bit of...you could say it’s kind of a Throwback Thursday moment. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy...and for everyone that’s followed me on this crazy journey, thank you.

Poe’s X-wing hovered over a vision of hell. 

Even as he took a look at the burning Temple, the collapsed ruins, he knew that something very, very bad had happened, right then and there. Behind him, BB-8 beeped frantically; Poe could already tell that the orange and white droid was worried about Ben. 

Poe couldn’t say he blamed BB-8. After all, Ben...the truth was that Ben meant just about everything to him, even though he didn’t know yet how to say it out loud. Twenty-six years old and having no idea how to tell Ben the truth...it really was something. 

Assuming he could tell Ben the truth. Assuming Ben was still alive. 

Poe touched down on the planet of Adani, and clambered out of his X-wing, ran towards the ruins of the Temple. “Ben!” he shouted. “Dear stars, Ben...”

As if he’d summoned him, Ben ran towards Poe. He was shaking, his robes badly tattered...but he was alive. 

”Ben!” Poe exclaimed. “Thank the stars. What the hell happened?”

Ben drew closer. He looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack — like he had seen something that he wasn’t ready to see. 

“Hey,” Poe said, taking Ben’s hands. He knew it was probably an odd gesture from an outsider’s perspective, especially between people who were supposed to just be friends, but he was willing to do what it took just to make sure that Ben just stopped shaking. “What is it, Ben? What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

”It’s my uncle,” Ben said. “He — he fell.”

”What do you mean?” Poe had heard stories from Ben about people falling to the Dark Side, but it couldn’t be true for Luke. Not Master Skywalker, never him. “In battle?”

”He fell to the Dark Side,” Ben said. “He took some of his students with him. I barely made it out.”

And Poe could swear it was like an airlock had opened in his stomach. 

”Ben,” he said, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I had no — I mean, I just...” Kriff, what did he even say to that? How did he comfort Ben when his uncle had suffered every Jedi’s worst nightmare?

”I — I brought the Temple down on him. He w-would have killed me...” Ben said. 

Poe swore. Even the idea, really, of someone hurting his wonderful, precious Ben — it was unthinkable. He couldn’t bear it. He didn’t want to. 

”It’s okay,” he said, “Your uncle’s not gonna hurt you.”

”He’ll come back,” Ben said. “I’d know if he died. A-and I don’t know if that’s better or worse, and does it make me a bad nephew if — ”

Poe hugged him. It seemed like the only sensible thing he could do now. Just hugging Ben. Making sure he was okay. Even feeling the solidness of Ben’s form, he knew he’d appreciate it better, so much better, if Ben wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack. 

Ben seemed to relax a little. “Thank you,” he said, softly. “Really. Force, it just scared me so much. He was...he sounded like those stories. You know those stories about Anakin? About Vader? I saw some of the holorecordings from Artoo, how Grandfather was just ranting and raving about how he’d brought peace, freedom, justice, security...all these things he didn’t and couldn’t do. And Uncle Luke — he said some similar things. About how he had his eyes opened. I — I knew that he was struggling with the texts and what it meant to put the Order together, b-but he just — he’s gone, he _left_ — ” A beat. “I wasn’t enough. I should have been.”

”Ben, no,” Poe said firmly. “I don’t know much about falling to the Dark Side, but I can assure you, there’s always a choice. Your uncle chose that life. He can turn back, though. I turned my back on the Spice Runners. He can turn his back on the Dark Side.”

Ben smiled, if feebly. “He has to.” He took a shaky breath. “Poe...we should get in touch with my mom. And get off this planet. I don’t...I know Tai, Voe and Hennix were off-world. Voe’s gonna suffer, she’s gonna suffer plenty...”

”Why?”

”She looked up to my uncle,” Ben said. "It’s going to destroy her if she found out he turned. I didn’t tell you, that he found her on Telos in some dingy apartment and adopted her. She’s been grateful to him ever since.”

”We’ll find a way to break the news,” Poe said. “Together.”


	2. Sanctuary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke begins his Dark Side training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Sorry this is so late!

Darkness. Darkness, smothering, confining darkness. It seemed to take all of Luke’s strength, physical and in the Force, to claw his way out. Even watching the pieces of the burning Temple floating in the air, Luke supposed that it made an almost beautiful sight. 

A sight that was enraging nonetheless. All because of Ben. 

_Ben._ He had hoped that Ben would see reason. That he would change his mind. He was wrong, wasn’t he? He didn’t see how fundamentally broken the Order was, how wrong it was. How it seemed to have been built on a foundation of lies and hypocrisy. 

He had thought that, though Obi-Wan and Yoda made mistakes, he could make his own path. His own interpretation of the Order. There was only so much that that could really accommodate, though. There was only so much that he could do. 

”You’re lucky that you’re alive, Jedi Man.”

Luke turned around to see a familiar face. The monster with a face like someone else’s father. Ren. 

“You know as much as I do that I’m not a Jedi.”

”Huh,” Ren said, “Last I checked, you were bragging about being last of the Jedi. Snoke said you changed your mind, though.”

”You could say that.” Luke walked away from the flaming ruins. “My nephew is now our enemy. I gave him a better world and he threw it away.”

”Shame,” Ren said. “I kind of liked that kid.” Then, "Come back to the Night Buzzard. We can talk.”

***

Luke had to admit that in terms of a ship to fly, the _Night Buzzard_ was undeniably grim-looking. Ren turned to look at him. “It’s a piece of old history,” he said. “You could say the Knights and I...repurposed it. It’s been through hell.”

”I see.” Then, “You stole it, didn’t you?”

”We gave it a better purpose. It used to be a ship where the guards mistreated their prisoners. The Knights and I...we freed the prisoners. Not before one of the Knights, Ushar, made sure the guards felt every bit of agony the prisoners felt.” A beat. “It’s not evil, really. Part of the Shadow, but not evil."

”You don’t have to tell me.” Luke said. "I didn’t fall so much as realize the truth.” A beat. How was he going to explain all this to the man who, prior to this, had been his enemy?

”I knew you would,” Ren said. “You were strong back there, on Elphrona. Imagine what you could do if you weren’t holding yourself back.”

Luke sat down beside Ren — a man like Vader in how badly his body was burned, yet different in all the ways that mattered. "I learned everything,” he said. “How they took children from their families — brainwashed them into child soldiers, loyal to the Jedi and the Jedi alone. How, for all their vaunted compassion, they were willing to punish those who showed it: Revan and Malak, for example. How they were willing to punish those they didn’t understand.” A beat. “They were willing to bar a slave from rescuing his mother. Turn a son and daughter against their father. They manipulate for their idea of the good of the galaxy...but they don’t care, do they?”

”You defied them once,” Ren said. “Tell me about Vader, Rebel-Man.” Luke decided he liked that title better than Jedi Man. “Why you decided to save him.”

”He was alone,” Luke said. He could still remember lying in Bespin’s medbay, wounded, reeling — and being stunned to feel that loneliness radiating from Vader, that desire to be loved. "He’d been manipulated, betrayed. I couldn’t be like the others in his life.”

"If you knew what the Brilliance really was, would you have tried to turn him back there?”

Luke swallowed. “I would have taken him on a different path,” he said. “Something away from the Jedi and Sith alike. Though at least the Sith have a desire to heal.”

”Now you get it,” Ren said. “And in following the _ren_ — there is the matter of the _ren_ simply being, of course. But the _ren_ can have its desire to heal as well. To make things better.” Silence. “We don’t usually train people who join the Knights. You, Rebel-Man...you’re the exception to the rule. Snoke’s orders. Yoda might have taught you a few things, and you obviously know some stuff...but Snoke wants you un-indoctrinated. His words, not mine.”

”We have no time to waste then,” Luke said. 

And later — later, he’d have to go hunting for Ben and the others. To avenge the deaths Ben caused, or anything like that...Luke couldn’t say he knew yet.

***

The _Grimtaash_ was en route to D’Qar, and everyone else seemed to have problems sleeping. Ben was one of them. The dark reminded him too well of when he had been temporarily buried alive — the struggle to remember his Jedi techniques to control his breathing, the confinement...so he left the light on. Even the idea of leaving the light off was enough to give him a miniature panic attack.

And it wasn’t like he could sleep anyway. He found himself going over every word that he and his uncle had said, and —

Ben sighed. He had to get out of here. Get to the cockpit. He couldn’t stand just being confined here...

He got up. Padded towards the cockpit. It was on the way there that he bumped into Poe. Poe, who looked like he hadn’t slept at all. 

”You look awful,” Poe said, and his voice was so sympathetic and soft that Ben couldn’t get angry at him. It wasn’t like he had the energy to get mad at him anyway. 

”Yeah. I know. No doubt.” Ben sighed. “I’m just so...I can’t sleep without thinking I’m buried alive.”

"Kriff.” Poe looked like he didn’t know what to think. "I’m sorry, Ben. I can’t believe he betrayed us like this...”

”I know.” Ben sighed. “It was my fault. I wanted to save him. Wanted to help him, even when Mom and Dad sent me over there. When I was working in the archives — stang, Poe, what could I do? I was twelve kriffing years old!”

”Ben,” Poe said softly, “You did nothing wrong. It was all him. Really.” 

”But I wasn’t enough. I wanted to be...”

”You were.” And there was so much hope and faith and belief in Poe’s voice that Ben wished that he could believe it all himself. “It was all him. It wasn’t your fault.”

It was still hard to come to terms with. Ben could at least take some degree of comfort in the fact that Poe still believed in him. 

They sat down. At least it was open in here, open and spacious. Ben couldn’t picture thinking he’d be buried alive here. And there was Poe. His sanctuary. Someone who knew he’d failed and hadn’t given up on him. 

“I’m here.” Poe said. “I won’t leave you, Ben.”

”Yeah,” Ben said. “I know.”


	3. Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Poe reach D’Qar and meet up with old friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

They landed on D’Qar when it came out of hyperspace and Ben brought it in for a landing. They got out, Ben and Poe, even as Voe, Tai and Hennix got out of an adjacent ship. 

”What happened?” Voe demanded. "You look terrible, Ben!”

”Now look here,” Poe said. “He’s exhausted and scared; it’s not his fault that Luke went nuts — ”

“What are you talking about?” Voe said. ”I mean, I have a feeling you’re telling the truth, but...”

”It’s a long story,” Ben said. 

His parents greeted him, of course, with hugs and tears. And Ben cried despite himself too. He had to. 

***

”Ben...you didn’t really tell me what happened,” Leia said. 

Sitting with Voe, Tai, Hennix, Poe and BB-8, Ben paused. How did he explain? That look in his uncle’s eyes, like there was nothing left of him. The things he said, like he had forgotten what it meant to be a Jedi. 

Like he had forgotten what Yoda and Obi-Wan had taught him. 

Ben took a deep breath. He told his mother everything, all the shreds of darkness that he had sensed in his uncle, like there was something wrong in him, and how he had tried to help as best he could. All this, up until that night in the Temple. 

Voe, Tai and Hennix were still. Then Voe spoke. “Maybe there’s a way to save him,” she said. “I mean, he wouldn’t just _turn_.”

Leia nodded. “You’re perceptive, Voe,” she said, and Ben could feel Voe’s pride at that. She was so desperate for validation, Ben thought. Even though they were frequently at odds, he couldn’t help but feel for her. ”Being a Jedi means that you have to show compassion to your wayward brethren. See things in them they wouldn’t see in themselves.”

”It does,” Voe said. “What Ben was saying...I know he’s telling the truth, but Luke wouldn’t just decide to turn his back on the Jedi. I mean, he defied the Emperor once.”

”He did,” Leia said. “We have to save the good man he still is. We can’t let it die.”

***

Poe helped him walk to the room that Threepio had suggested to him. “You did good,” he said. “You were brave, Ben.”

Ben nodded. Truthfully, he didn’t feel brave, but he appreciated that Poe thought so. 

Even as they got to Ben’s room, Poe turned to him. “It wasn’t your fault, Ben. Really. You did the right thing, standing up to him. And even bringing down the Temple...you made a mistake.”

”I don’t know.” Ben said. 

”You did,” Poe said. “I’ll be across the hall if you need me, Ben. I promise."

”I know,” Ben said. “Thank you.”

Poe smiled, a smile that was reassuring despite everything. “Anything for you, Ben,” he said. “Anything at all.”


End file.
